Standard operating procedure Title: Handling invoice payment within deadline of 30 days (Standard Payments) Status: PUBLIC Document no.: SOP/EMA/0135 Lead author Approver Effective date: 18-FEB-2015 ame: Claus Christiansen ame: Michael Lenihan Review date: 18-FEB-2015 Signature: on file Signature: on file Supersedes: SOP/EMA/0135 of 28-APR-14 (TW4131 ) Date: 02/02/2015 Date: 10/02/2015 TrackWise record no.: 4321 1. Purpose The general Financial Regulation and its Rules of Application, both applicable as of 1 January 2013 require payments to be made within 90 days for complex payments subject to report approval, 60 days for standard payments subject to report approval and 30 days for all other payments, cf. Art. 92. Article 77 of EMA s Financial Regulation refers to the general Financial Regulation and, as such, the agency is required to respect the same deadline. The purpose of this SOP is to set targets for the processing of payments at each of the steps of the process, in order that the deadline of 30 calendar days, counting from the SAP baseline date, be achievable and the amount of default interest payment reduced to a minimum. 2. Scope In accordance with Art. 92 of the general Financial Regulation, the time allowed for making payments shall be understood as including validation, authorisation and payment of expenditure. It shall begin to run from the date on which a payment request is received. Type of payment Invoice Reimbursement to staff members, e.g. missions Baseline date in SAP (= date of receipt) Date of registration by A-FI-ACC or the department of the Authorising Officer (= creation date) Date of receipt of admissible expense claim Payment terms 30 calendar days 30 calendar days 30 Churchill Place Canary Wharf London E14 5EU United Kingdom Telephone +44 (0)20 3660 6000 Facsimile +44 (0)20 3660 5555 Send a question via our website www.ema.europa.eu/contact An agency of the European Union European Medicines Agency, 2015. Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Type of payment Baseline date in SAP (= date of receipt) Payment terms 30 calendar Reimbursement to delegates Date of receipt of admissible expense claim days The payment terms are not applicable to staff payments made within the salary payment system. This SOP does not describe the detailed internal procedures at each step of the payment process. 3. Responsibilities All actors involved in the payment process must comply with this SOP. In order to ensure that late payments are reduced to a minimum, all actors must aim to process all payment transactions within the deadline set for their stage of the process. All actors must ensure that back-up is in place during absence in order to assure continuous processing of invoices and payments. IAs must inform vendors of the functional e-mail address to which invoices, in pdf format only, must be sent: ema.vendorinvoices@ema.europa.eu. IAs must ensure that any additional information is provided in pdf format only, and attached to the relevant SAP transaction. 4. Changes since last revision The SOP was updated to reflect the new workflow which provide for electronic invoices, i.e. pdf documents received by e-mail. 5. Documents needed for this SOP All documents needed for this SOP are standard documents already in use for the payment process. A report is available in SAP which allows IAs and other financial actors to monitor invoices and payment deadlines, cf. transaction code MIR5 (parked invoices) and ZFI_PAMETS_IA (processing times) 6. Related documents Regulation (EU, Euratom) o. 966/2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/lexuriserv/lexuriserv.do?uri=oj:l:2012:298:0001:0096:e:pdf Commission Delegated Regulation on the rules of application on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/lexuriserv/lexuriserv.do?uri=oj:l:2012:362:full:e:pdf#page=3 Financial Regulation of the European Medicines Agency: http://emeaplus/emeaplus_documents/planning_and_reporting/budget/financial%20regulation%20an d%20related%20documents/financialregulation01jan2014.pdf SOP/EMA/0135, 18-FEB-2015 Page 2/6
Rules for the implementation of the Financial Regulation applicable to the budget of the European Medicines Agency: http://www.ema.europa.eu/docs/en_gb/document_library/other/2010/10/wc500097683.pdf Memo on 30 days payment deadline: doc. ref.: EMA/718014/2012 https://docs.eudra.org/webtop/drl/objectid/090142b281f1c74c Monthly reports from A-FI-ACC on late payments Summary of the Executive Director s decision to delegate powers of budget implementation, link: http://emeaplus/emeaplus_websiteew/financial_matters/financeandbudget/financialregulationandr elateddocuments.htm SAP manuals on changing baseline dates: FM invoices MM invoices CA invoices Memo Introduction of pdf invoice receipt process, doc. ref.: EMA/550520/2013 7. Definitions AO: authorising officer, staff member with budget responsibility and in the context of the payment process responsible for authorising the expenditure and thereby instructing the accounting officer to pay the item of expenditure AP: OIA: FIA: VO: accounts payable, part of A-FI-ACC where invoices are received and registered operational initiating agent (= desk officer ), signs the invoice approved for payment to indicate that services or goods have been delivered as per the invoice financial initiating agent, responsible for the preparation of payment transactions verifying officer, responsible for conducting ex-ante verification of all financial transactions Payment deadline: Standard payments: 30 calendar days, from receipt of invoice until the payment clears the agency s bank account. This translates into 20-22 working days in a standard calendar month without bank holidays. as defined in the table with types of payment, cf. point 2. Scope above. 8. Process map(s)/ flow chart(s) Please note that the steps outside EMA are not part of the workflow, but merely included in the flowchart for illustration purposes. SOP/EMA/0135, 18-FEB-2015 Page 3/6
Title: flowchart for payment process STADARD PAMETS Vendor sends invoice / credit note to functional e- mail Provision of additional information Receipt of invoice / credit note 1. Register invoice/credit note in SAP 2. Invoice correct and info complete? 3. Invoice needs correction? 4. Request additional information from vendor 5. eed for additional check? 5.1 Sign-off for passed for payment 5.2 Include in inventory 6. Payment OK? 7. Payment OK? 8. (Partial) credit note? 8. (Partially) offset credit note against incorrect invoice 9. Payment SOP/EMA/0135, 18-FEB-2015 Page 4/6
9. Procedure Step Action Responsibility 1. 1.1 register invoice/credit note in SAP AP DEADLIE: within 2 days of receipt 2. 2.1 check invoice and other documentation FIA 2.2 if all is correct, prepare payment and sign in SAP 2.3 transmit to VO 2.4 go to STEP 6 DEADLIE: within 2 days of receipt 3. 3.1 if payment is inadmissible due to incorrect invoice, contact FIA vendor to request correct invoice / credit note 3.2 place the payment on hold awaiting correct invoice / credit note 3.3 if correction by full credit note: when received, attach it to the invoice and send to AP with request in writing for deletion of the invoice from SAP, go to STEP 1 3.4 if correction by partial credit note, go to STEP 1 3.5 when partial credit note received, go to STEP 2 4. 4.1 if payment is inadmissible due to need for clarification FIA and/or additional information, contact vendor to request information 4.2 place the payment on hold awaiting new information 4.3 receive new/additional information, change baseline date in SAP, sign on paper and in SAP 4.4 transmit to OIA or direct to VO DEADLIE: within 2 days of receipt 5. 5.1 if applicable ensure that invoice is checked and signed OIA passed for payment by the right person 5.2 if applicable ensure that inventory is updated with new assets 5.3 transmit to VO DEADLIE: within 2 days of receipt 6. 6.1 check payment VO 6.2 if payment is incorrect, return to IA 6.3 go to STEP 2 6.4 if payment passes all checks, sign in SAP 6.5 transmit to AO DEADLIE: within 2 days of receipt 7. 7.1 check payment AO 7.2 if payment is incorrect, return to IA 7.3 go to STEP 2 7.4 if payment passes all checks, sign in SAP 7.5 transmit to AP DEADLIE: within 2 days of receipt 8. 8.1 (partially) offset any credit note against the invoice AP 9. 9.1 prepare bank payment AP 9.2 carry out payment run SOP/EMA/0135, 18-FEB-2015 Page 5/6
Step Action Responsibility DEADLIE: according to AP s payment calendar 10. Records Electronic records are kept in SAP, with back-ups in Documentum. Records should be kept in accordance with the rules for archiving and disposal of financial records, cf. Art. 31 of the Implementing Rules to the Financial Regulation. SOP/EMA/0135, 18-FEB-2015 Page 6/6